A father who complained about his 14-year-old daughter being given a novel with sexually-explicit content in her high school English class was arrested on Monday during a school board meeting.

William Baer lost his temper during the meeting between parents and school officials from New Hampshire's Gilford High School.

They had gathered to discuss the appropriateness of ninth-grade students being given Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes - a novel about a school shooting that contains themes of bullying and sexual violence.

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Willaim Baer is led out of the school board meeting by a police officer on Monday after he complained about his 14-year-old daughter being given a sexually-explicit book as an English assignment

Mr Baer, an attorney, raised his voice at the meeting and said that he didn't believe that the school showed his daughter respect by giving her a book with sexually-explicit themes

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Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult deals with a school shooting and has themes of bullying and sexual content

The officer appeared to ask Mr Baer to leave. He responded: 'Because I violated the two-minute rule?', referring to his allotted speaking time at the meeting.

'I guess you're going to have to arrest me,' Mr Baer told the police officer, who then ordered him to stand up and led him by the arm out of the library meeting.

The father was then placed in handcuffs and charged with disorderly conduct.

Mr Baer told EAGNews: 'I was shocked when I read the passage, and not much shocks me anymore.

'My wife was stunned by the increasingly graphic nature of the sexual content of the scene and the imagery it evoked.'

Another parent Doug Lambert told WCVB: 'You are also cheating the kids out of being exposed to real literature in front of them. This is garbage.'

Jodi Picoult also weighed in on the debate over her book.

She wrote: 'Another parent is challenging #19Minutes bc it contains a sex scene far more vague than anything on TV. Sad to focus on that & not bullying.'

SUITABLE FOR STUDENTS AGED 14? EXCERPTS FROM '19 MINUTES'

The lines which caused parents' concern in the class-assigned text:

'Relax,’ Matt murmured, and then he sank his teeth into her shoulder.
He pinned her hands over her head and ground his hips against hers. She could feel his erection, hot against her stomach.She couldn’t remember ever feeling so heavy, as if her heart were
beating between her legs. She clawed at Matt’s back to bring him closer. 'Yeah,' he groaned, and he pushed her thighs apart. And then suddenly
Matt was inside her, pumping so hard that she scooted backward on the
carpet, burning the backs of her legs. He clamped his hand over her mouth and drove harder and harder until Josie felt him come.Semen, sticky and hot, pooled on the carpet beneath her.

Nineteen Minutes was published in 2007 and debuted at number one on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Holly Soave tweeted to the writer: '@jodipicoult as a teen, #19minutes changed my life & the way I think about bullying & how actions affect everyone around us. I'm grateful.'

The school board apologized'for the failure of the school
district to send home prior notice of assignment of the novel' but added that it had been part of the school curriculum since 2007 and there had been no complaints.

Superintendent Kent Hemingway told WND that the book was 'thematically important' because it allowed students to explore issues surrounding a fictional school shooting.

MailOnline was awaiting a comment from Mr Hemingway.

The school's mission statements include the belief that 'learning occurs best in disciplined, safe, and respectful environments where community members are valued and expected to play their roles in education and be accountable for their actions'.

A police officer approached the father because he violated the two-minute speaking rule at the school board meeting on Monday night

The police officer took Mr Baer by the arm and led him out of the New Hampshire school meeting before placing him in handcuffs